Ring in the New Year With This Quiz

By the 18th century, the meaning of the word evolved from “face” to “gladness” and expressed encouragement and wishes for good cheer.

Toshikoshi or “year-crossing” soba is a soup made with noodles, and has been a good luck tradition practiced in Japan since at least the 13th century.

On January 1, 1907, Theodore Roosevelt welcomed some 8,513 individuals to an official holiday function at the White House. During the event, Roosevelt set the record for the most handshakes by a head of state. Another politician now has Roosevelt beat, however: Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson shook 13,392 hands in one day in 2002.

While no ball drop is more famous than the one in New York City’s Times Square, the tradition originated in England. “Time balls” — which dropped at certain times as a signal to navigators — first appeared in Portsmouth Harbor in 1829 and at England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. Though they were made to help mariners keep track of time, they soon became an attraction, and people would come to watch the ball fall.

Each new year, many Finnish people throw a small amount of molten tin into cold water to tell their fortunes for the future. The tin hardens into a random shape, which are deciphered to predict how the next year will turn out. The practice, known as molybdomancy, is a divination technique dating back to ancient Greece.

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is a good luck custom in parts of the American South, likely adopted from the tradition of eating them at Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It’s believed the Southern tradition originated in the 1730s when Sephardic Jews came to the U.S., and became popularized during the Civil War when the food was given to soldiers during the winter.

Before New Year’s resolutions became personal goals for the upcoming year, they were inspired by Bible verses. The first known resolutions were found in a 1671 diary kept by Lady Anne Halkett, a member of Scottish high society. They were taken from Bible verses such as “I will not offend any more,” listed out on a page, and titled “Resolutions.” She wrote them on January 2, linking the practice with the new year.

When the Times Square ball drop tradition began in 1907, the first ball was made of iron and wood. Despite being smaller in size than today’s ball, it weighed some 700 lbs. Since then, the ball has been made of several different materials, including aluminum. The current ball, known as the Big Ball, is made of Waterford Crystal.

Though he’s best known as the god of wine and pleasure, that’s not why Dionysus inspired the Baby New Year. The concept dates back to around 600 BCE, when the ancient Greeks carried a baby in a basket to represent the rebirth of Dionysus, who was also the god of fertility, on New Year’s Day.

In 567, the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the start of the new year, instead opting to celebrate the occasion on dates ranging from March 1 to December 25. Pope Gregory XIII later restored January 1 as New Year’s Day with the implementation of the Gregorian calendar in 1582. The holiday was eventually adopted by the American colonies in 1752.

The New Year didn’t begin on January 1 until the year 46 BCE, when Julius Caesar added 90 days to the year, creating the Julian calendar. Before that, the year began in late March with the first full moon after the spring equinox. Caesar changed it to honor Janus, the god of beginnings and namesake of the month January. In ancient Rome, New Year’s celebrations consisted of gifts and decorations, as well as sacrifices to Janus.

The dish originated with German settlers (also called Pennsylvania Dutch) in the U.S. during the 17th and 18th centuries.

College football’s Rose Bowl is a New Year’s Day tradition (though it’s held on January 2 if New Year’s falls on a Sunday). The first one occurred in 1902, when Michigan defeated Stanford 49-0, and the competition has been held annually since 1916, when Washington State defeated Brown 14-0. No college has won more than the University of Southern California, with 25 victories.

Christian leaders designated the anniversary of Jesus Christ’s birth (December 25) as the first day of the year during the Middle Ages.

The 1907 ball drop was the first of a tradition that has endured for over 100 years. It began when “New York Times” owner Adolph Ochs was forced to find a new way to celebrate the company’s annual New Year’s party after a citywide fireworks ban. Inspired by the time ball at Western Union Telegraph, Ochs hired a metalworker to create an illuminated ball to be lowered from the Times Tower at midnight.

Resolutions have been a New Year’s staple since around 2000 BCE, but they didn’t look quite the same as they do now when the ancient Babylonians first made them. Instead of resolving to hit the gym, the people of Babylon promised the gods they would repay debts and return borrowed items. If they kept their promises, they believed the gods would favor them for the new year.

At New Year’s Eve masquerade balls in Renaissance-era Europe, masks (representing evil spirits) were removed and evil was banished with a kiss.

The Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year kicks off with the Spring Festival, despite being held in the middle of winter. There are several reasons for the name; for one, in the early 1900s — when the Gregorian calendar was introduced to China and January 1 became New Year’s Day — another name was needed for the traditional new year, which is held on the first new moon between January 21 and February 20.

Several prominent Americans were born on New Year’s Day, but Humphrey Bogart was born on December 25.

Since the 1800s, finding the almond in a bowl of “risalamande” (a traditional Danish rice dessert) has been considered good luck.

Often depicted with an hourglass and a scythe, Father Time was inspired by the Roman deity Saturn (or the Greek equivalent, Cronus).

Few television presenters rose to greater acclaim than Dick Clark, who began hosting “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” in 1972. Clark continued to helm the program until the mid-2000s, when he handed over the reins to co-host Ryan Seacrest. The program continues to feature musical performances and live coverage of the ball drop in New York City’s Times Square.

In 3000 BCE, the star Sirius would rise in the night sky near the end of June. Shortly after, the Nile would flood, which marked the first “season” and beginning of the year.

The origins of Hogmanay date back hundreds of years to pagan times, but the modern festival dates to the 16th century.

Some music historians call “Auld Lang Syne” “the song nobody knows,” though that doesn’t stop people from trying to sing it each year. The title is often interpreted as “times long past” or “days gone by,” but its literal translation from the Scots language is “old long since.” The melody was first paired with lyrics by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788, after he heard someone sing the traditional tune.